Okay let me start off by saying that I am a somewhat big KSE fan. That being said, my favorite release by them is Alive Or Just Breathing. But I still like the releases with Howard on vocals, I would even say that he is the superior vocalist. But I must say, I had a bad feeling about this album from when I first saw the title and album art. The SECOND self-titled album in their career? WTF? And there was just something about the artwork that to me was, for lack of a better word, gay. And things just kept getting worse. First, the live version of "Light In A Darkened World". Not necessarily a "bad" song, but kinda meh to me a first. Next came "The Reckoning", which I felt was a pretty decent song. But the worst was yet to come. When I first saw the video for "Starting Over", I couldn't help but cringe a little bit. Besides the fact that video itself was terrible, the song was just so mediocre. I'll admit, the chorus melody is a little catchy, but Jesus Christ the riffs were so mediocre and generic it wasn't even funny. Then the album was put up on Myspace. SerpentineVIVIVI and I were hanging out at the time, so we quickly skimmed through the album, and as expected, not impressed at all. So today, I took it upon myself to give the album a real good listen, to truley see what I feel about it. So, here we go...

1. Never Again - The track starts off like a normal as-expected Killswitch affair, but quickly changes to a wierd time signature-based verse, which me no likey, followed by a melodic prechorus. The song then alternates between this and various screamed parts followed by, wait for it...a breakdown. The song then picks up again with a fairly good guitar solo. Overall a pretty decent song, not amazing, but not terrible at all. 7.5/10.

2. Starting Over - Uhhgg. As I said before, generic riffing and song structure. All in all, a pretty mediocre track. 5.5/10

3. The Forgotten - This track starts off with an intro that reminds me somewhat of "The Shortest Straw" from Metallica. It then goes into a pretty good verse with a good rhythm and a good riff. This is followed by a prechorus and a usual sing-song chorus. Obviously not the most fresh of song structure, but so far so good. The song then really picks up with a very thrashy mid-section which transitions back into the last chorus of the song. Overall, a pretty good song. 8/10

4. Reckoning - The first studio recording released for the album. It is a fairly short song, clocking in at only 2:40. The track starts with the verse, which has a very At The Gates-inspired beat. The rest of the song pretty much follows the usual KSE song structure, but a good track overall. 8/10

5. The Return - The song starts off much softer than the rest of the songs. Overall, it's a slower paced, melodic song. Not really the most exciting of songs, but still not terrible. 6.5/10

6. A Light In a Darkened World - The studio recording sounds pretty much the same as the live version. Heavy verses, melodic chorus, and pretty melodic guitars as well. I personally like this song, while I know others would very much disagree. Another pretty short song. 7/10

7. Take Me Away - This starts of pretty upbeat with a sort of hammer on-pull off-kind of lick with chords playing in the backround. It then goes into some clean guitars with some soft vocals from Howard. It gets somewhat heavier, but a very melodic song overall. 6/10

8. I Would Do Anything - The song starts with a pretty fast drum beat with guitar feedback in the backround. It quickly goes from that into a very breakdown-ish verse. Again, the usual Killswitch song structure is used again. The second verse of the song however is accompanied by some very, and I mean [B]very[/B] fast drumming courtesy of Justin Foley, followed by the usual prechorus/singing chorus. The midsection has a nice heavy riff though. 7/10

9. Save Me - Nothing new here. Just the usual metalcore to be expected from this. 6/10

10. Lost - Starts off with clean picking with distorted chords in the backround. I honestly don't feel like describing the rest. A pretty boring song. 5.5/10

11. This Is Goodbye - Let me start this off by saying how cheesy the song title is for the last song on the album. Anyway, the song fades into some pretty heavy riffing. The verse has some good riffing, but unfortunately has a fairly generic metalcore chord progression. The rest of the song is nothing really exciting. Not a bad song though. 6.75/10

Overall, the new KSE album isn't terrible as I expected, but isn't really anything special as well. My main complaint is that the band isn't evolving. Seriously, this is their 5th album and they are still using the same overused formula for their songs. What really disappoints me is that the band has so much potential, as Howard is a great singer, Joel and Adam are really good guitarists, and Justin is a beastly drummer. Anyway, these are just my opinions and if you care you should really listen to it for yourself. And as with any other album, don't judge from the first listen.

Overall Score - 6.5/10

And sorry if this is a little too long, I like to get into detail :D

Indestructible

06-24-2009 08:50 AM

the only kse album i heard is as daylight dies. that isnt anything special

makethemsuffer12

06-24-2009 09:00 AM

You really need Alive Or Just Breathing. It's easily their best album.

mastodon421

06-24-2009 10:53 AM

I dig this album a lot. I thought it was a little bit differnt for them but i did really enjoy it. My fave KSE is album is End of Hearthache but i just love them as a band.

slipknot4ever24

06-25-2009 11:05 PM

I love it!!

Never Again...9.4-Its probably the most Killswitch song on the album and its one of the heaviest and best on the album I think.

Starting Over...9.0-Its a lot like all the other type of love ballad songs KSE has released. Like, Rose of Sharyn and My Curse. Its really catchy

The Forgotten...8.8-A solid song. I like it

Reckoning...9.1-A badass motherfuckin song. Except its a little to short

The Return...7.9-Havent really given it a good listen to where I could say its good or bad.

A Light In A Darkened World...9.5-The best song on the album I think. Its a little short but I could care less its the shit i think!

Take Me Away...8.1-Again havent given it a really good listen to it but from what i heard. Its a pretty good song

I Would Do Anything...7.1-This is really the only song that I would change while listening to the CD. Its not bad. Its just not my favorite

Save Me...8.7-Very good Killswitch song. I love where its just the bass and drums.

Lost...8.4-Good slow melodic KSE song.

This Is Goodbye...9.3-Great, great, great Killswitch song. Its the prefect song for the CD to end :)

In other words. I LOVE the album. Theres some points on the album where I wish they could do better but its fine. Im sure the next album will be there best :D. I will give it an 8.7/10

In order of albums, it goes like this for me-
1. Killswitch Engage
2. As Daylight Dies
3. The End Of Heartache
4. Alive Or Just Breathing- I just dont like the mixing on this

300%_Density

06-27-2009 07:21 AM

Wow it just seems like as they put out more albums I find myself liking fewer songs each time. Last album I bought was End Of Heartache and liked mabye a handful of songs, Daylight Dies probabaly 2 or 3, now on this S/T there were 2 that I found somewhat redeeming. If this pattern continues I will pretty much already give up on the album after this.

(sic)&disturbed

06-27-2009 08:54 AM

Not album of the year for me either!

300%_Density

06-27-2009 09:24 AM

Probably not album of the week really... Or album of the weak? I apologize for the very bad joke.

b_halperin

06-27-2009 10:03 AM

[QUOTE=300%_Density;216427]Probably not album of the week really... Or album of the weak? I apologize for the very bad joke.[/QUOTE]

(Cricket)

:D

I don't like this album very much either. They've been on a steady decline their whole career, not including the addition of Howard Jones. Their best album in my opinion was [I]The End of Heartache.[/I] I felt like it really defined them and put their name on the map. I like about 4 songs off that album:

Rose of Sharyn
World Ablaze
The End of Heartache

Okay maybe I only really listen to about 3.

[I]As Daylight Dies[/I] felt so much softer than I wanted Killswitch to go. At this point I felt ashamed that I was a big fan.

Eye of the Storm was the best track off that album, but the parts where Howard sang the overused metalcore choruses really made me cringe on the inside.

Now, on to their 2009 self-titled release. First off, why do they have 2, count them, TWO, albums that are "self-titled." Fucking use your last few ounces of creativity to create a better name than one that you've already used. What the fuck were they thinking?

This album progresses like most other metalcore albums. There are the great parts, and then there are the parts that make you want to be one of the people that bashes metalcore as a whole. There is some good metalcore in my opinion, but the bands that become famous are the ones that sell out. The good metalcore, you may ask? You must delve deeper into the genre to find that. Killswitch Engage did sell out after [I]The End of Heartache.[/I] Go ahead, tell me that they were just changing their style, I can respect that, but I really don't like the direction they're going in.

Nevertheless, Adam D. is still probably the most hilarious person in metal.

I give [I]Killswitch Engage[/I], 4/10

The album had some gems, but undoubtedly failed as a whole.

-Bennett

300%_Density

06-28-2009 02:24 PM

It seems unfortunate b/c everytime I see or read interviews w/ Howard I really like him and the rest of the band. I enjoy how they don't take themselves seriously at all. Yet they continue to put out these mediocre albums that seem to arrive on the Billboard charts a little higher each time. Based on how they act I'm glad they are getting success but it's unfortunate the type of music they are putting out now. So incredibly boring and just never goes anywhere.